Internal-combustion engine.



B. T. MCCANNA 61 F. C. HENEN. V INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. I

APPucAnoN 1111211 $591.29, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- B. T. lVIcCANNA 6L F. C. HEINEN.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.' -APPLlcAloN FILED sEPLzs, |913.l

1,251,793, v Patented Jan. 1,1918.

2 SEETS-SHBET 2. 4.5

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-f i l I l I I 1 l l l I 4 UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEICE.

BENJAMIN T. MCCANNA AND FRANK C.l HEINEN, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AssIGNoRs or ONE-HALE 'ro NATHAN r. LEOPOLD, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Application filed September 29, 1913.

To all whom t may concer/a: Y

Be it known that we, BENJAMIN T.,Mo CANNA and FRANK C. HEINEN, citizens of the United States, and residents of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to internal combustion engines, and its object is to provide a fourcycle engine comprising improved means for controlling the intake and exhaust of the gases admitted to the engine cylinder or cylinders, the ordinary forms of puppet, piston, sleeve and rotary valves being entirely eliminated.

In the embodiment of our invention herein described and subsequently claimed, the piston comprises two portions,towit, a body portion which is pinned to its pitman rod, and a second portion carried by the body portion adapted to control the admission to and exhaust from the engine cylinder.Y Suitable devices are provided to turn or preferably oscillate the second portion of the piston to control the intake andexhaust.

Ve find it desirable to turn or oscillate the upper portion of the piston only when'the working piston is at or near the end of one of its strokes, in order to do away with the complications which might otherwise result. The exhaust port in the engine cylinder is preferably so located thatV a charge is permitted to fire out over the top of the working piston as it nears the'end of its power stroke to secure a comparatively low pressure within the cylinder when the oscillatory portion of the piston is to be oscillated to open the exhaust passages in the piston.

As will be apparent from a consideration of the accompanying drawings, the engine of our invention avoids the application of the ordinary valve'mechanism. It provides means for securing a closer approach to the ideal of four-cycle operation. Itattains closely ideal conditions from a thermo-dynamic standpoint without resorting to valve mechanism or valve-operating mechanism, which is subject to rapid wear. Notwithstanding these advantages, the engine of our invention can be constructed yat less cost than engines heretofore developed.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 792,304.

An important feature of the engine of our invention is the arrangement which we provide for preventing undue heating or cooling of any one portion of the working piston cylinder are permitted to pass down into the body portion of the piston through ports in the top thereof, and said exhaust gases are l also passed around the periphery of the bodyV portionl of the piston so that the heating of said piston, due to said exhaust gases, may be uniform.

These and other features of the engine of our invention are set forth in the following description and are illustrated in the accoin panying drawings, in-Which: Y p

Figure 1 isa vertical sectional view of an engine embodying our invention;

Fig'.v 2 is a perspective view of a working piston and the devices for oscillating the oscillatory portion of said piston;

Fig. 3 is a top view of the piston showing Patented Jan. 1, 1918.

the oscillatory portion thereof in its position during the compression and ignition strokes of the engine cycle; Fig. 4 is a view, similar to Fig. 3, shoi` ingV the position ofthe oscillatory portion of the piston during the exhaust stroke;

Fig. 5 shows the oscillatory portion of the piston in its position during the intake stroke;

Fig. 6 is asectional view of the working as it nears the end of its working stroke, and

Fig. 10V is a view of the periphery of the cam that controls the angular position of the oscillatory portion of the piston.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts throughout the severall views.

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken on a line through the crank case and one cylinder of what is preferably a multi-cylinder engine. le have thought it unnecessary to illustrate more than one cylinder`v as it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the ioyel features of our invention may be incorporated in both single-y and multiple-cylinder engines. y

The crank case is formed of two parts 2O and y21 divided at 22 upon the plane of the axis of the crank shaft The engine cylinder or cylinders 24;, as the case may be, are equipped with suitable water jackets As shown, the cylinder 2% comprises a flange 26 by means of which the cylinder is bolted to the crank case. 1n a multiple-cylinder construction the cylinders will preferably be cast in pairs in a manner well known to those skilled in the art. T he cylinder 21 is provided with a working piston 27 adapted to reciprocate therein.

The working piston 27 comprises a hollow body portion 28 and an oscillatory portion 29 disposed Aon the top of said body portion. The body portion of the piston is connected to a pitman rod 30 by means of a suitable wristpin 31, as shown, said pitman rod being operatively connected with the engine crank shaft, as in ordinary engine construction. As is clearly shown in Fig. 6, the body portion of the piston is provided with a transverse wall v32 which separates the lower portion of the vbody of the piston from that portion which is adapted to have communication with the engine cylinder above the working piston through suitable passages, which will be hereinafter referred to in detail.

The oscillatory portion 29 of thepiston is pinned, as well as bolted, to a spindle 33 which extends down through an opening in the horizontal wall 32. rThe spindle 33 is provided with an integral flange 3a which tits snugly against the under side of Vsaid wall 32. VDisposed in the body portion 28 of the piston near the lower end thereof is a rotatable ring 35 which is connected by means of a plurality of rods 36 with the flangev34 of the spindle 33. From the. structure. just described, it is evident that when the ring is turned or oscillated, a corresponding movement is iinparted tothe portion 29 of the piston.

The body portion 28 of the piston is also provided with an inlet opening 36 and an exhaust opening 37 adapted to come into register with suitable ports in the wall of the engine cylinder. Gras drawn in through the inlet opening 36 is taken to the center of the piston. and from there is passed to a plurality of compartments 38 formed in the upper portion of the body of the working piston. Each of the compartments 38 is provided With a slot 39 through which gases may pass to the space above the piston when said slot registers with a corresponding one of a plurality of slots in the oscillatory .portiOnQQrof the piston. The exhaust opening 37 has communication with a pair of tunnels 4e() which pass around the periphery of the body portion of the piston and under the compartments 38. Suitable openings or slots 41 in the walls 42 which separate the compartments 38 afford communication between tunnels 40 and the space above the working piston when the said openings l1 register with corresponding openings in the oscillatory upper portion 29 of the piston.

The portion' 29 of the piston is provided with a plurality of slots 43 which are adapted to be brought into register with the slots 39 which have communication with compartments 38 and with slots l1 which have communication With the tunnels 410. The oscillatory portion of the piston is also arranged to at- 'one time close all of the slots 39 and Z11.

Fig. 3 illustrates the position of the oscillatory portion 29 during the compression and power strokes of the` engine cycle. During' these strokes the oscillatory portion 29 shuts otf communication between the space above the piston and the compartments 38 and tunnels ett). During the scavenging or exhaust strokel the portion 29 is in the position shown in Fig. 2, with the slots 43 registering with slots 11 andi thus permitting the exploded gases to escape through tunnels l0 and exhaust opening 37 to the exhaust port in the v`engine cylinder. Fig. 5 shows the relative positions of the body portion of the piston and the oscillatory portion of the piston during the intake stroke. y Vhen the oscillatory portion of the piston is in the position shown in Fig. 5 communication is established between the space above the piston and the compartments 38 through slots 3,9.

The oscillatory portion :29 of the piston is preferably provided with an annular flange 29a equipped with piston rings29b for an obvious purpos'e. 1

As Villustrated in Fig. 1, the' body portion of the power piston is so disposed within the cylinder. 21 that the` intake and exhaust openings 36 and 37 respectively are adapted to be brought into register with the corresponding inlet-and outlet ports 4st and 45 in the wall of the cylinder 24.'

XVe will now c lescribe the mechanismK which determines the angular position of theoscillatory portionQS) of the piston. As is clearly shownV in Fig. G, the "ring 35 ijs provided with ears 4G to which. are secured rods or guide studs 47" extending` downwardly from the piston. The rods or guide studs pass freely through openings 't8 in an lao annular turning plate 49. The turning plate 49 is formed integral with a ring 50 fitting in a seat bored in the lower end of the cylinder and is retained in position by means of a plate 51, said plate comprising legs 52 which are secured to the cylinder by means of bolts, as illustrated. The turning plate 49 is providedV with a projecting arm 53 to which is pivoted a bar 54 also pivotally secured to the bar 55 which in turn is pivoted to the crank case at 55. There is preferably a pin-fand-slot connection between the arm 53 and the bar 54 in order that the necessary amountof relative movement may take place. The bar 54 is provided with a roller 56 which engages the slot 57 of a cam 58. The cam is mounted upon a suitable cam shaft 58a, as shown. In multiple cylinder engine constructions there is, of course, mounted upon the cam shaft one cam for each cylinder. The cam shaft is carried in suitable bearings formed in the crank case and is driven fromV the crank shaft of lthe engine by means lof sprocket wheels 59 and 60 coperating with the link belt 61. The cam shaft is driven at half engine speed.

Assuming the engine to be in operation, it willbe apparent that the cam shaft operating through the cam, its associated guideplate and the guide-stud-s, will give to the portion 29 of the piston an oscillatory motion around its longitudinal axis in addition to its ordinary motion of reciprocation, the nature and amount of the oscillation being determined by the lay-out of the `working surfaces of the cam. Fig. 10 illustrates the surfaces of a cam designed to impart motion to the oscillatory portion of the piston which will bring said portion of the piston at different stages of the engine cycle into the positions illustrated in Figs. 3 to 5, inclusive. It will be apparent that the cam surfaces may be designed to control the degree of oscillation of the proper portions of the piston and also to control the time at which the movement of the latter occurs. The other features of the engine shown in the drawings do not differ necessarily from the standard engine constructions, and so we will not burden this specification with a description of the same.

In the operation of the engine, assuming the piston to be on its'intake or charging stroke, the oscillatory portion of the piston opens communication between the compartments 3S and the space above the piston through the slots 39, the `relative positions of the parts being illustrated in Fig. 5. A charge of combustible gas is, therefore, drawn into the cylinder through the inlet port 44 and the proper passages in the piston. Before the piston starts back on its compression stroke, the cam, through the operating devices, moves the oscillatory por- Vin the particular'embodiment herein shown tion of the piston to the positionshown in Fig. 3, thereby closing the slots 39 and 41. The piston moves upward on its compression stroke and compresses a charge which at the proper time is fired, driving the piston down on its power or ignition stroke. As the piston nears the end of its power stroke a portion of the ignitedcharge is permitted to escape out over the top of the piston through the exhaust port 45, as is illustrated in Fig. 9. y By permitting a large portion of the ig nited charge to escape at this time, we greatly -reduce the pressure within the cylinder and so do away with the resistance which the high pressure within the cylinder would offer to the turning of the oscillatory pist-on portion 29 to uncover the slots 41 to permit the exhaust of the rest of the ignited gases through the piston. At the proper time, after the exploded charge has fired out over the piston, as set forth, the oscillatory portion of the pistonv is moved to its exhaust position shown in Fig. 4; At the end of the exhaust or scavenging stroke the piston portion 29 is again movedV to its intake position and the cycle of operations just described is repeated. It will be noted that the fresh and exhausted gases are well distributed through the piston so that the temperature of the piston will be substantially uniform throughout. Attention is also called tov the fact that whenever the oscillatory portion of the piston is shifted to control the intake or exhaust the pressure within the cylinder is not great enough to present any kgreat amount of resistance to the force which -shifts said oscillatory portion. v

Vhile `we have illustrated our invention and described, we do not limit ourselves to this particular construction, but desire to claim broadly any equivalents thereof which may suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

What we claim as new and desire to se- Icure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an internal combustion engine, the

combination of a combustion cylinder having intake and exhaust ports, a piston reciprocable in the cylinder, said piston comprising a body portion and an oscillatory portion turnable upon the axis of the piston, and mechanism for oscillating the oscillatory portion of the piston to Vcyclicly establish and shut off communication between the combustion cylinder and the intake and exhaust ports.

2. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a combustion cylinder, a crank shaft, a piston within the cylinder, a pitman rod connecting said piston and the crank shaft, said piston comprising a body 130 portionV and an oscillatory portion turnable on the axis of the piston, and mechanism for oscillating the oscillatory portion of the piston to control the intake and exhaust from said cylinder.

3. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a combustion cylinder having intake and exhaust ports, a piston recip- Yrocable within the cylinder, said piston comprising a body portion and an oscillatory portion carried by the body portion and ar ranged to turn on the axis of the body portion, a passage in the Vbody portion adapted to be brought into communication with the Vintake port, and a passage in the body portion adapted to be brought into communication with the exhaust port, openings for affording communication between said passages and the cylinder, and devices for oscillating the oscillatory port-ion of the piston to control said openings.

l. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a combustion cylinder, a piston reciprocable in the cylinder, an exhaust port in the cylinder, a. passage in the piston adapted to be brought into communication with the exhaust port, an oscillatory member carried by the piston and turnable on the longitudinal axis of the piston for controlling communication between said pas- Sage and the cylinder, mechanism for operating said member to cyclicly permitthe exhaust of fired gases, and an intake passage for admitting combustiblegas into the engine cylinder.

5. In an internal combustion engine, a crank case, a cylinder mounted on the case and haring ports in its side, a piston member reciprocable Within the cylinder and adapted to be turned on its axis, said piston member controlling the passage of combustible gas from the inlet port to the cylinder and the passage of fired gases from the cylinder to the atniosphere, a crank shaft in the case connected with the piston member, a inember Within the crank case movable in a plane normal to the axis of the piston member for operating the piston, means for actuating said movable' member from the crank shaft, and means connected with the piston inem; ber passing freely through an opening in said movable member.

6. An internal combustion engine comprising a crank case, a cylinder, a. crank shaft Within the crank case, a piston Within the cylinder, a rod connecting the piston and crank shaft, intake and exhaust ports in the cylinder, intake and exhaust passages in the body portion of the piston, an oscillatory piston portion carried by the body portion arranged to control said intake and exhaust passages,,mechanism driven from the crank shaft for oscillating said oscillatory portion, said mechanism comprising an annular member within the crank case, a rod secured to said oscillatory portion of the piston having sliding engagement with said annular member, and a cam driven from the crank shaft controlling the angular position of said annular member.

In Witness whereof, We hereunto subscribe our names this 26th day of September, A. D.

Y BENJAMIN T. MCCANNA.

FRANK C. HEINEN. lVitnesses z ALBERT Gr. MCCALEB, ROBERT F. BRACKE.

Copies of this patent maybe obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commss'onerof Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

